Edmond’s Life.Church throws celebration for YouVersion’s Bible App
The app, which debuted in 2008, achieved the milestone of 1 billions downloads worldwide, celebrating with a packed event at Paycom Center.
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A small phone held up under the spotlight of an Oklahoma City arena represented a historic moment in time.
Bobby Gruenewald, founder and chief executive officer of YouVersion, said the phone had been on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, but he’d borrowed it because it was the first device that featured the free YouVersion Bible App.
Gruenewald used the phone to highlight another important moment on Monday, Nov. 17, as a crowd of 13,000 people gathered at the Paycom Center to celebrate the 1 billionth download of the popular YouVersion Bible App developed in Oklahoma by Edmond-based Life.Church.
“My heart is just full right now — it’s full of gratitude,” Gruenewald said, with tears in his eyes.
“I just wanted this to be a moment for the Bible.”
The celebration called “Beyond a Billion: A Night to Celebrate the Bible” featured messages from Gruenewald, the Rev. Craig Groeshel, Life.Church’s founder and senior pastor, and Austrailian evangelist Christine Caine, along with a full orchestra and a dazzling array of today’s contemporary Christian and gospel recording artists like Matt Redman, Lauren Daigle, Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham and CeCe Winans.
Throughout the event, which lasted just shy of three hours, video clips featured celebrities and other well-known people who shared how much their lives had been affected by the YouVersion Bible App since it premiered as one of the first mobile applications featured in the Apple App Store when it debuted in 2008.
Celebrities, faith leaders and others who took time to share their stories through video snippets included author and evangelist Rick Warren; sportscaster Ernie Johnson Jr., most recognized as one of the co-hosts of Inside the NBA on TNT; professional boxer Manny Pacquiao; and contemporary Christian recording artists Luke and Joel Smallbone of For King & Country.
Others who offered their congratulations and shared their stories via video clip, included professional golfer Bubba Watson; ministry leader Priscilla Shirrer; Dan Cathy, chairman of Chick-fil-A; actress Roma Downey and her husband television and producer Mark Burnett, U.S. special envoy to the United Kingdom; Edmund Chan, founder of Global Alliance of Intentional Disciple Making Churches; Coby Cotten, co-founder of Frisco, Texas-based sports and entertainment company Dude Perfect; and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, founder of the Tim Tebow Foundation.
One of the most inspirational faith testimonies of the evening was that of a Baltimore widow who said she thought she would never hear the voice of her son after he was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum and nonverbal. She said after the tragic death of her husband she saw a promotion for the YouVersion Bible App for Kids. After downloading it on her two children’s iPads, she awoke one day to hear her son’s voice as he shared some phrases he learned from Bible stories on the app.
When the mother-and-son duo appeared on stage Monday, the crowd cheered and clapped as the son shared his favorite Bible verse.
Both Gruenewald and Groeschel emphasized that the celebration was an opportunity to focus on God’s word and its ability to transform people’s lives as they connect to Christ.
Gruenewald famously came up with the idea for YouVersion while waiting in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. He told the crowd at recent celebration that YouVersion was originally a website, which was a failure, but a “fortunate failure.”
“It was actually the failure of the website that actually led us to try it on a mobile app,” he said. “Had we not failed at the website, we would probably still be trying to do a website.”
He said he had considered himself a below average Bible reader at the time and he’d been asking himself if technology could help him read the Bible.
Gruenewald thanked Bible publishers, Bible translators and Bible societies that have helped make the Bible more accessible over the years.
“The Bible app would not be here without out the Bible — it would just be an app,” he said.
The church leader also thanked Life.Church members that have been donating money to help keep the app free to app users. He said those people who have been consistently sowing into the app ministry — currently about 70,000 individuals — are known as members of the Sowers Club.
“You guys are unsung heroes,” Grunewald said.”
The YouVersion CEO also thanked the numerous partners — about 30,000 — that contribute to the YouVersion Bible App. Two of those partners, Dallas Jenkins, creator of the hit television show “The Chosen,” and Tara-Leigh Cobble, host of the daily podcast called “The Bible Recap,” shared the stage with Gruenewald to discuss why they have contributed content to the popular app.
Jenkins said a disclaimer appears on the screen of “The Chosen” encouraging viewers to read the Bible. He said at some point, he and his team realized that YouVersion Bible App users were searching for certain biblical events and biblical people after they were featured or mentioned on his TV show.
“I heard that and I thought this is why I do what I do,” Jenkins said.
Gruenewald told the audience that Cobble has the most popular read-through the Bible Bible plan. Cobble said partnering with the Bible app has helped her platform expand its reach through the app’s accessibility, credibility and visibility.
“You help us take the Gospel into places that I will never step foot,” Cobble said. “
‘Greatest opportunities’
Like Gruenewald, Groeschel grew emotional as he thought of the importance of the moment at hand.
“It is genuinely impossible to put into words the emotions that could only come from the heart of God, with 1 billion downloads of the living word of God, which is active and powerful and never returns void,” he said.
“One billion opportunities to experience the word made flesh. A billion opportunities for God to draw near to someone that’s hurting, someone that’s searching and someone that needs saving from brokenness.”
Groeschel said he was given a free Gideon’s Bible and it transformed his life, so he knows the power of the holy book.
“As we celebrate 1 million downloads, I want you to know that I was one whose life was changed by the word of God,” he said.
The longtime pastor said over the years, Life.Church has remained committed to offering the Bible app free of charge.
“Our church took a step of faith, and we said we’re going to give the word of God away,” Groeschel said. “People have said why don’t you monetize it … why don’t you charge a dollar. I’m going to tell you right now, I was saved by a free Bible. Our Bible is not for sale.”
He said although the Bible app is free it is not free to create. The minister encouraged audience members to consider making a donation, particularly because a donor had agreed to match any donations made within the next 24 hours.
“I believe in the depths of my soul that we’re standing at the edge of one of the greatest opportunities in history,” Groeschel said.
“As Bobby (Gruenewald) said, there’s a spiritual hunger like I’ve never, ever seen before. … At this projection, we believe the next billion will come in five years, and the third billion will come in the next three. … The word of God is transforming lives.”